Apparatus for winding threads,yarns or tapes to crosswound packages



1970 w. SIEGENTHALER 3,4

APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREADS, YARNS OR TAPES TO CROSSWOUND PACKAGESFiled Nov. 8, 196? 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. F

64- CONTROL ELECTRO MA GNET 727 .3

INVENTOR.

M1. YER SiE GEM/mm 1970 w. SIEGENTHALER 3,490,709

APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREADS, YARNS OR TAPES I TO CROSSWOUND PACKAGELSFiled. Nov. 8, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2

INVENTOR.

WALTER SIEGENTHHLER Jan. 20, 1970 w. SIEGENTHALER 3,490,709

APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREADS, YARNS OR TAPES 'TO CROSSWOUND PACKAGESFiled Nov. 8, 196? 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 m I 'IlllllI/IIAW/IJIIIIIIl/A t IINVENTOR. WRLTER smwwwk 3,490,709 APPARATUS FOR WINDING THREADS, YARNS RTAPES T0 CROSSWOUND PACKAGES Walter Siegenthaler, Erlenbach, Zurich,Switzerland, as-

signor t0 Maschinenfabrik Scharer, Erlenbach, Zurich, Switzerland FiledNov. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 681,397 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, Aug. 16, 1967, 37,656/ 67 Int. Cl. B65h 63/02 US. Cl. 242-37 11Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Driving means for thread windingapparatus comprising a bobbin spindle driven by a continuously variablegear the gear ratio of which is variable by means of a feeler membercoacting with the package to be Wound, the feeler acting to increase thegear ratio with the increasing diameter of the package. The continuouslyvariable gear is a reversing gear and a knock-off motion is providedwhich, in response to breakage of the thread, causes reversal of thegear and actuation of means to become effective for relatively movingsaid feeler member and said bobbin shaft away from each other.

This invention relates to apparatus for winding threads yarns or tapes,herein, for the sake of convenience termed threads, to crosswoundpackages on bobbins having a bobbin shaft driven by means of acontinuously variable gear the gear ratio thereof increasing in responseto the increasing diameter of the package, a feeler member arranged forcooperation with the growing package actuating a control member of thegear for varying the gear ratio.

It is an object of the invention to provide a winding apparatus of theabove type with means permitting a rapid and simple tying of a brokenthread by hand and a placing of the knot at one of the ends of thepackage being wound, so that the knot does not prevent a correctunwinding of the thread when the wound package later is used on aweaving loom or knitting machine. A placing of the knots at the ends ofthe package is particularly important and desirable for bobbinsreceiving a precision winding, from which the thread is unwoundintermittently at high speed when they are used on shuttle-less looms.

According to the invention the continuously variable gear is formed as areversing gear having a control member, and a knocking-off motion isprovided which, in response to a breakage of the thread, causes saidgear to be reversed and releases means to become eifective for producingrelative movement of said feeler member and said bobbin shaft away fromeach other.

The invention will be apparent from the following detailed description,reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation of the apparatus according to theinvention, shown during a winding operation.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the apparatus partially shown in sectionalong the line IIII of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragment of FIGURE 1, showing the relative position of theparts with the bobbin shaft at a standstill after a breaking of thethread.

FIGURE 4 is a secional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIGURE 2,showing a detail of the control device with the bobbin shaft at restafter a breakage of the thread.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 during the winding operation.

3,498,789 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 FIGURE 6 is a view in elevation andpartial' section along the line VIVI of FIGURE 5 during the windingoperation.

FIGURE 7 illustrates the top portion of the apparatus seen from the backof FIGURE 1.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, the represented windingapparatus comprises a frame including a base plate and upright columns51 and 52 which carry cross supports 53 and 54. Longitudinal beams 55and 56 are mounted on the cross supports 53 and 54, respectively. Nearthe bottom end of one of the columns 51 a bracket 57 is fixed whichcarries a support 60 for a supply bobbin '61 to be unwound.

The unwinding thread 62 is led through a thread tensioning device 63 andpast a knock-off motion 64 to a thread support 65 and then is engaged bythe thread guides 66 (FIG. 2) which deposit the thread crosswise on theturning package 67 to be wound. The package is placed on a bobbin shaft68 which is rotatably carried by a rocking arm 70 mounted on a pin 69.The drive of the shaft 68 and of the thread guides in positive drivingconnection therewith is effected by a motor 71, by the intermediary of atransmission belt 72, a reversible friction gear drive 73 and an endlesstooth belt 74 which meshes with a gear wheel 75 driving the thread guidearms 66, and with a gear wheel 76 connected with the bobbin shaft 68 bya further tooth belt 58 and a set of pinions 59. A suction device 77operated by the knock-off motion 64 is provided for gripping the threadend of the package on the breaking of a thread.

The friction gear drive 73 comprises a gear box 78 through which extendsa first shaft 79 (FIG. 2) both ends of which project out of the box. Oneend of the shaft 79 carries a pulley 80 engaging the driving belt 72 andthe other end carries a drum 81. The shaft 79 is operatively connectedby a set of gears 79' with a second shaft 82 mounted in the gear box 78and extending parallel to the first shaft 79. The shaft 82 is driven inthe same direction as the shaft 79. Within the gear box the shaft 82carries a worm 83 meshing with a worm wheel 84. This latter is securedto a coupling sleeve 85 rotatably mounted on a control shaft 86extending at right angles to the shaft 82 (FIGS. 4, 5 and 6). The sleeve85 is provided with teeth or flutes and cooperates with a spring loadedratchet segment 87 which is pivotally mounted on a flange 88 secured tothe control shaft 86. During the winding operation, the ratchet segment87 is maintained out of engagement with the coupling sleeve 85 by meansof a spring loaded pin 89. The pin 89 is actuated by an electromagnet127 controlled by the knock-oft" motion 64.

The end of the second shaft 82 projecting from the gear box 78 on theside of the drum 81 carries a conical head or collar 90. Between thedrum 81 on the shaft 79 and the head 90 on the second shaft 82 isarranged a friction disc 91 the axis of which extends at right angles tothe shafts 79 and 82 and carries a gear wheel 92 which engages the toothbelt 74 driving the thread guide arms and. the bobbin shaft 68.

The friction disc 91 is rotatably carried by an arm 94' which is mountedfor pivoting movement on a shaft 94 extending parallel to the shafts 79and 82. The pivoting movement of the friction disc 91 is effected by thecontrol shaft 86 as will be described later.

The face of the friction disc 91 on the side of the drum 81 is plane andin one end position of the disc, corresponding to normal windingoperation (FIG. 2), this face of the disc 91 is in frictional engagementwith an endless belt 93 passing around the drum. In the other endposition of the disc, its other face of truncated cone shape is infrictional engagement with the conical head 90 of the shaft 82 wherebythe head 90 drives the disc 3 91 which in turn drives the bobbin shaft68 through the intermediary of the tooth belt 74.

The belt 93 frictionally engaging the disc 91 during the windingoperation passes around a pulley 95 and is laterally maintained inposition thereby. The disc 91 is connected with a toothed rack 96 whichis longitudinally movable and meshes with a toothed sector 97. Thislatter is pivotally mounted and connected by a linkage 98 with the pivotpin 69 of the rocking arm 70. The arrangement is such that the rockingarm 70 is substantially balanced by the linkage 98, and the package 67during the winding operation bears only slightly or not at all on asupporting roller 99 acting as a feeler member operatively connectedwith the control member for the gear and determining the gear ratio. Atthe beginning of a winding operation the package even is slightly spacedfrom the roller 99.

The control shaft 86 is rotatably mounted in the gear box 78 forms apart of the control device of the winding apparatus. At its endprojecting from the box, the shaft 86 carries a cam disc 100 (FIGS. 2and 3) engaging a cam follower 101 which is applied against the cam discby the action of a spring. The cam follower 101 is connected to thepivoting axis 94 of the friction disc 91 by means of a pivoting arm 102(FIG. 6). The other end of the shaft 86 projecting out of the gear boxcarries a gear wheel 103 which is in driving connection with a secondcontrol shaft 106 by means of a chain 104 and a gear wheel 105 fixed tothe shaft 106. The control shaft 106 further carries a cam disc 107coacting with a cam follower 108. This latter is connected by means of alinkage 109 with the upper end of a suction tube 110 of the suctiondevice 77. The lower portion of the tube 110 is flexible and extensible.The linkage 109 is operatively connected with a downwardly extending rod111 pivotally mounted on the pivot pin 69.

It is particularly visible from FIGURE 7 that the rod 111 is associatedwith a toothed segment 112 also rotatable on the pin 69. When the rod111 is moved in the direction of the arrow A in FIGURE 7 the segment 112is engaged by means of a spring-loaded pawl 113 carried by the rod 111and moves along with the rod. The action of the pawl 113 can beeliminated by means of a linkage 114 actuated by hand.

Further structural details will become apparent from the followingdescription of the operation of the apparatus.

During the winding operation the friction disc 91 is in the end positionshown in FIGURE 1. The bobbin shaft 68 and the thread guide arms 66 aredriven from the gear drive 73 by the motor 71, the thread being woundupcrosswise on the bobbin support. With the package 67 growing, therocking arm 70, as seen in FIGURE 1, is pivoted in the clockwisedirection, whereby the linkage 98 causes the toothed sector 97 to swingin counterclockwise direction. The toothed sector then moves the rack 96and accordingly the pulley 95 with the belt 93 towards the right. Thepoint of engagement of the belt 93 with the friction disc 91 movesradially outwards and the gear ratio of the drive progressively variesin response to the increasing radius of the package to graduallydecrease the speed of the bobbin shaft and of the thread guide arms.

During the winding operation the two shafts 79 and 82 rotate; thecontrol shaft 86, however, is stopped, since the coupling 85, 87 betweenthe shaft 82 and the control shaft 86 is disengaged. The position of thecoupling members, sleeve 85 and ratchet segment 87 is best visible fromFIGURES and 6. The ratchet member 87 is provided with an extension 115bent over at right angles and bearing against the front end of the pin89 which is in its forwardly projected position owing to spring action.The pin 89 prevents the ratchet member 87 under the action of the spring116, from engaging the fluted sleeve 85.

Upon a breakage of thread. during the windin operation, the knock-offmotion 64 closes the electric circuit of the electro-magnet 127 which isenergized and retracts the pin 89 to release the notched segment 87. Thespring 116 then causes the segment 87 to be pulled into engagement withthe sleeve 85, whereby the control shaft 86 is coupled in drivingengagement with the driving shaft 82 and starts to turn.

The control shaft 106 turns together with the shaft 86, and also the camdiscs 100 and 107 associated with these shafts will turn.

The cam follower 101 engages with a cam portion 117 (FIG. 5) which firstrises and then has a constant radius over a certain angular extent.Thereby the follower 101 is downwardly moved and by means of thepivoting arm 102 and shaft 94 disengages the friction disc 91 from thebelt 93 and brings it into a neutral position. The drive connectionbetween the motor 71 and the bobbin shaft 68 thus is interrupted and thepackage comes to a standstill.

At the same time, the cam follower 108 of the cam 107 engages a camportion 118 which first rises and then remains at a constant radius overa certain angular extent (FIG. 1). Thereby the follower 108 and thelinkage 109 is swung upwardly about the axis 119 and the suction nozzletube 110 is moved upwardly to the position shown in dash-and-dot linesin FIGURE 3. During this pivoting movement the linkage 109 also movesthe rod 111, the connecting point of the rod with the linkage having amuch smaller movement than the opening of the nozzle tube 110. The rod111, in turn, moves the toothed segment 112 by means of the pawl 113,whereby the rocking arm 70 is slightly turned to cause the package 67 tobe lifted off the supporting roller 99. The free end of the thread isthen swung radially outwards by centrifugal force before the packagestops, and after stopping the thread end loosely adheres to the surfaceof the package.

While the upper cam follower 108 still passes over the cam portion 118,the lower cam follower 101 moves on a cam portion 120 (FIG. 5) of agreater constant radius than the preceding cam portion 117. This causesthe follower 108 to be lowered still further to bring the friction disc91 into frictional engagement with the conical head of the driving shaft82 by means of the pivoting arm 102 and the shaft 94. The friction disc91 is now driven in reverse direction by the conical head 90 and drivesthe bobbin shaft 68 by means of the tooth belt 74 also in reversedirection. The broken thread end is unwound from the package and drawnby suction into the nozzle tube 110 of the suction device. After a fewreverse revolutions of the package 67, the cam follower 101 engages thenotch or depression 121 of the cam (FIG. 4), while the upper camfollower 108 engages the notch 122 of the cam 107 (FIG. 1).

The apparatus now is in a neutral position as represented in FIGURES 3and 4. As seen in FIGURE 4, immediately before arriving in thisposition, a pawl 123, by the action of a spring, engages by itshook-shaped end the extension 115 of the notched segment 87. When thecontrol shaft 86 continues to rotate into neutral position, the notchedsegment 87 is released from engagement with the coupling sleeve 85 bythe pawl 123 and the driving connection between the driving shaft 82 andthe control shaft 86 is cut off. The control shaft 86 and the controlshaft 106 thus are stopped in the neutral position.

The depression 121 of the cam 100 and the depression 122 of the cam 107are so shaped that the friction disc 91 is released from engagement withthe conical head 90 and is moved back into its intermediate position,and that the suction tube and the package 67 are returned from the upperposition shown in dash-and-dot lines in FIGURE 3 to an intermediateposition.

In this position the bobbin shaft stops and the attendant can take care,when making the package ready for continuing the winding operation thatthe knot to be made in the thread will be situated at one end of thepackage, so that the later unwinding of the thread when the wound cop isused in a loom, will not give rise to any inconveniences.

As soon as the apparatus is ready to take up the winding operationagain, the attendant pushes the pedal 124 with the foot (FIG. 1),whereby the pawl 123 is disengaged from the coupling member 87 by meansof a cable 125 actuating a lever 126 which is connected with the pawl123, and a driving connection is established between the control shaft86 and the shaft 82 until the coupling member 87 again is engaged by thepin 89 wh ch is again in its forwardly extending position, thus holdingthe coupling member 87 out of engagement with the coupling sleeve 85, sothat the normal operating condition is reestablished.

During normal operating condition the cam followers 101 and 108 aresituated in a depression of the cams 100 and 107, respectively, havingthe smallest radial distance of the cam surface from the cam center. Thefriction wheel 91 is again in engagement with the friction belt 93, andthe rocking arm 70, as well as the suction tube 110 are in their lowerposition of pivoting movement.

Instead of a linear displacement of the friction belt 93 proportional tothe increase in diameter of the package 67, in order to obtain aconstant winding speed, the belt could also be moved in response to theincreasing package diameter in such manner that a certain increase ofwinding speed is obtained.

Since upon a breakage of thread the package is lifted out of contactwith the package supporting shaft 99, the free thread end is not rolledinto the package but is thrown outwardly by centrifugal force before thepackage comes to a stop. In the winding apparatus according to thepresent invention the ends of the thread, after a breakage, can be tiedquickly and in simple manner, and the knot can be situated at one of thetwo ends of the package, which is important for the quality thereof.

Since the core of the package is driven at the axis thereof, it is notnecessary that when starting the package that it should bear on thesupporting shaft, but first a few thread layers can be wound on the coretube before supporting is required. In this manner it is absolutelyavoided that the first layers slide together and accumulate, and ahigh-grade package formation is ensured. This is of great importance forthe complete and correct unwinding of cops having tied threads, in orderto obtain an uninterrupted travel of the thread. This is particularlytrue for the use of the cops on shuttle-less looms or knitting frames inwhich an intermittent jerking thread travel is produced.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for winding threads to crosswound packages, comprising abobbin shaft to receive said package, a continuously variable reversinggear driving said bobbin shaft, the gear ratio of said variablereversing gear increasing in response to the increasing diameter of saidpackage to be wound, a control 'memberfor said gear, a feeler membercooperating with the package being Wound and operatively connected withsaid control member, a knock-off motion operative to reverse said gearupon breakage of a thread winding on said package,

and means actuated by said knock-off motion upon breakage of a thread torelatively move said bobbin shaft and said feeler away from each other.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said feeler member is arotatably mounted roller, and the bobbin shaft is pivotally mounted andoperatively connected to said control member, said means, upon breakageof the thread, being operative to produce a pivoting movement of saidbobbin shaft.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, and comprising a suction devicehaving a suction nozzle movable towards and away from the bobbin shaftand means operatively connected to said knock-off motion upon breakageof a thread to move said nozzle into proximity of the package beingwound.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which said suction devicecomprises a drive member which, upon movement of the nozzle towards thebobbin shaft, is coupled with said means producing a pivoting movementof the bobbin shaft.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said reversing gearcomprises a friction disc adapted to be driven by its faces, the axis ofthe friction disc being drivingly connected with the bobbin shaft.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which said friction disc ismounted for pivoting movement between two terminal positions on an axisextending at right angles to its axis of rotation.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, comprising two spaced interconnectedparallel driving shafts rotatable in the same direction, and means foralternately coupling said friction disc with one or the other of saidshafts.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, in which said friction disc in one ofsaid terminal positions is adapted for frictional engagement with adriving belt which is radially displaceable relatively to the frictiondisc.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7, in which one of said driving shaftsis operatively connected with a cam means by the intermediary of aclutch which is engageable by the knock-off motion, for controlling thepivoting movement of the friction disc, the pivoting motion of thebobbin shaft and the movement of the suction device.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, in which said clutch cooperates witha locking member by means of which the clutch, after the friction dischas been pivoted from its terminal position corresponding to returnmovement into a neutral position, is disengageable.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, in which said locking member can bebrought into inoperative position, while said clutch, after the frictiondisc has been pivoted into its terminal position corresponding toforward movement, is disengageable by a second locking member controlledby the knock-off motion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,583,243 5/1926 Brink 242-372,295,535 9/1942 Abbott 24237 3,301,496 l/1967 Furst 24237 NATHAN L.MINTZ, Primary Examiner

